Archives: Contractor Email

For the attention of Community Pharmacies providing the Autumn 2024/25 COVID-19 Community Pharmacy Vaccination Service

Dear Contractor

SPPG have issued an important update on 25 February 2025 regarding  the Autumn 2024/25 COVID-19 CPVS programme.

SUMMARY

• The Autumn 2024/25 COVID-19 CPVS programme is to finish on 28 February 2025 and providers are requested to not vaccinate eligible cohorts after this date.
• Any residual Comirnaty (Pfizer) JN.1 COVID-19 stock should be disposed of after 28 February 2025 in the waste bins provided.
• SPPG have requested the number of disposed COVID-19 stock to be logged on to the following MS forms link here to help with future vaccination programme planning.
• The Autumn 2024/25 Flu vaccination service will continue until 31 March 2025.
• The CMO letter published today contains details of the upcoming Spring COVID-19 programme including the eligible cohorts and the expected start date. Further information regarding this will be shared by SPPG in the coming days.

ACTION

• Contractors are asked to: 
  • Read the SPPG correspondence issued on 25 February 2025 regarding the Autumn 2024/25 COVID-19 vaccination programme and share with all relevant staff members.
  • Note the COVID-19 Autumn 2024/25 programme end date of 28 February 2025.

If you have any queries relating to this correspondence please contact Gráinne McMahon (Grainne.McMahon4@hscni.net) or Greg Miller  (Greg.Miller@hscni.net).

Kind regards

Dear Contractor,

CPNI is keen to capture through a short contractor survey, the views of the community pharmacy network on a range of aspects including pharmacy services, staffing levels, IT provision, contractor experiences and future plans.  The survey is available here.

I would encourage you to please complete this survey, as the results will provide valuable insights into the current community pharmacy landscape and will be used in an anonymised manner to brief MLAs at the upcoming Committee for Health meeting on Thursday 6th March 2025.

The questions relate specifically to the contractor perspective, so we would ask contractors to please submit a single response to the survey, irrespective of the number of contracts you may hold.

The return date for the survey is Wednesday 26th February 2025.  Please note: the survey should take 5-10 minutes to complete and consists of 25 questions which will appear as you proceed through the survey.

Please do not hesitate to get in touch with CPNI offices if you need any further clarification or information.

Kind regards,

This update contains important information for community pharmacy teams.

CPNI ALERTS

• Contractor Survey – To Help Brief the Committee for Health 20 February 2025
• Second Concessionary Prices – February 2025 18 February 2025
• CPNI at the Northern Ireland Committee for Health Thursday 6th March 2025 – Contractor Engagement 18 February 2025
• LIVING WELL PHARMACIES ONLY: SURVEY REMINDER 17 February 2025

DOH(NI) ALERTS

• Cost-Effective Choices List 19 February 2025
• Firmagon 80mg/120mg Powder and Solvent for Solution for Injection Vials 18 February 2025
• HSS(MD) 06/2025 MHRA DRUG SAFETY UPDATE – VALPROATE (BELVO, CONVULEX, DEPAKOTE, DYZANTIL, EPILIM, EPILIM CHRONO OR CHRONOSPHERE, EPISENTA, EPIVAL, AND SYONELL): REVIEW BY TWO SPECIALISTS IS REQUIRED FOR INITIATING VALPROATE BUT NOT FOR MALE PATIENTS ALREADY TAKING VALPROATE 17 February 2025
• Demystifying Human Factors – A Two-Part Human Factors Event 17 February 2025
  • Human Factors Flyer

BSO ALERTS

• Weekly Drug Alerts are available here.
  • MPS 3341 MMS 2230 – Medicines Recall – Glucophage SR 500mg, 750mg and 1000mg Prolonged-release Tablets 20 February 2025
• Weekly Shortages Information is available here.
  • Triptorelin Acetate (Gonapeptyl® Depot) 3.75mg Pre-filled Syringes 21 February 2025
• Serious Shortage Protocols are available here.

CPNI Contractor Survey February 2025

CPNI is keen to capture through a short contractor survey, the views of the community pharmacy network on a range of aspects including pharmacy services, staffing levels, IT provision, contractor experiences and future plans.  The survey is available here.

We would encourage contractors to please complete this survey, as the results will provide valuable insights into the current community pharmacy landscape and will be used in an anonymised manner to brief MLAs at the upcoming Committee for Health meeting on Thursday 6th March 2025.

Living Well Campaign  “Look after your mental health”

This campaign is running throughout February and March 2025 and the social media planner for this campaign is available here (Living Well – Business Services Organisation (BSO) Website).

The campaign press release is available here.

Breastival Event

A baby feeding event is being held on Saturday 22nd February 2025 12-2pm at the Senate Room at Queens University Belfast.  The event which is contributing to the Science Festival will be discussing infant feeding in a changing climate and is open to all staff and mums with an interest in this area.

Further information including tickets can be found here.

Funded Pharmacy Training

CPNI has been made aware that funded pharmacy training places have been made available through Global Horizon Skills, in partnership with the Department for Economy.  Further information is available here.

Pharmacy team(s) can keep updated via CPNI’s Contractor Calendar and Contractor Emails.

Or report medicine shortages, pricing and staffing issues via CPNI’s Medicine Shortage Reporter and Situation Reporter.

Please bring this to the attention of your pharmacy team(s).

Kind regards

Dear Contractor,

CPNI is keen to capture through a short contractor survey, the views of the community pharmacy network on a range of aspects including pharmacy services, staffing levels, IT provision, contractor experiences and future plans.  The survey is available here.

I would encourage you to please complete this survey, as the results will provide valuable insights into the current community pharmacy landscape and will be used in an anonymised manner to brief MLAs at the upcoming Committee for Health meeting on Thursday 6th March 2025.

The questions relate specifically to the contractor perspective, so we would ask contractors to please submit a single response to the survey, irrespective of the number of contracts you may hold.

The return date for the survey is Wednesday 26th February 2025.  Please note: the survey should take 5-10 minutes to complete and consists of 25 questions which will appear as you proceed through the survey.

Please do not hesitate to get in touch with CPNI offices if you need any further clarification or information.

Thank you.

Kind regards,

Dear Colleague

The second update of concessionary prices were granted today for February 2025:

Drug	Pack Size	Concessionary Price
Bimatoprost 300micrograms/ml / Timolol 5mg/ml eye drops	3	£8.83
Calcipotriol 0.005% / Betamethasone dipropionate 0.05% gel	60	£23.70
Cefalexin 500mg tablets	21	£2.85
Clarithromycin 125mg/5ml oral suspension	70	£5.79
Estradiol 10microgram pessaries	24	£10.68
Fenofibrate micronised 160mg tablets	28	£3.50
Gabapentin 600mg tablets	100	£46.60
Hydroxocobalamin 1mg/1ml solution for injection ampoules	5	£11.02
Isosorbide mononitrate 20mg tablets	56	£3.85
Isotretinoin 20mg capsules	30	£13.67
Lactulose 3.1-3.7g/5ml oral solution	500	£5.15
Latanoprost 50micrograms/ml eye drops	2.5	£1.92
Methylphenidate 10mg tablets	30	£4.13
Methylphenidate 54mg modified-release tablets	30	£73.62
Mometasone 0.1% ointment	30	£3.13
Naftidrofuryl 100mg capsules	84	£10.90
Ondansetron 8mg tablets	10	£4.19
Pregabalin 100mg capsules	84	£2.29
Ramipril 2.5mg tablets	28	£1.19
Salbutamol 100micrograms/dose inhaler CFC free	200	£1.97
Travoprost 40micrograms/ml / timolol 5mg/ml eye drops	2.5	£12.51
Venlafaxine 225mg modified-release capsules	28	£20.71
Verapamil 80mg tablets	84	£2.30

Concessionary prices will be paid against the usual code, no additional endorsements are needed.

Please continue to notify CPNI of any pricing issues you are experiencing via our Medicine Shortage Reporter.

Concessionary prices are also published on the CPNI website.

Kind regards

Dear Colleague,

The Committee for Health will receive a briefing from Department of Health officials on the Community Pharmacy Strategy on Thursday 6th March 2025, and they have requested a briefing from CPNI immediately ahead of that update.

To provide committee members with a greater understanding of the community pharmacy landscape, including some of the challenges local contractors in their constituencies are facing, we are inviting contractors to engage with their local Health Committee members (listed below).

We have outlined the following key messages, which you could consider tailoring to your own pharmacy, to support this engagement

• Highlight the impact of chronic underfunding.
• Reference the constant juggle to pay medicine suppliers on time each month, this can be seen with a comparison of medicines bills to the funding received.  The figures simply don’t add up, regularly falling short of the funding which is needed to run a pharmacy today.
• Outline the impact the Employer NIC and NMW/NLW changes announced in the Autumn 2024 Budget will have on additional payroll costs for your pharmacy.
• Illustrate in real terms what this means: reduction in opening hours/service provision/redundancies.

Demonstrate the vital health transformation role of Community Pharmacy

• This winter community pharmacies have played an important role in managing patient care, from vaccinations, clinical services such as Pharmacy First, to triaging patients.
• Successfully diverting patients away from other healthcare settings, with stabilisation and investment the network can do so much more to alleviate pressures across the health service.

Health Committee Members

North Antrim:
Chairperson: Mr. Philip McGuigan MLA, Sinn Féin
Email: philip.mcguigan@mla.niassembly.gov.uk

East Antrim:
Deputy Chairperson Mr. Danny Donnelly MLA, Alliance
Email: danny.donnelly@co.niassembly.gov.uk

North Down:
Mr. Alan Chambers MLA, UUP
Email: alan.chambers@co.niassembly.gov.uk

Mid Ulster:
Mrs. Linda Dillon MLA, Sinn Féin
Email: linda.dillon@mla.niassembly.gov.uk

Upper Bann:
Mrs. Diane Dodds MLA, DUP
Email: diane.dodds@mla.niassembly.gov.uk

West Belfast:
Miss Órlaithí Flynn MLA, Sinn Féin
Email: orlaithi.flynn@mla.niassembly.gov.uk

North Belfast:
Miss Nuala McAllister MLA, Alliance
Email: nuala.mcallister@mla.niassembly.gov.uk

South Down:
Mr. Colin McGrath MLA, SDLP South Down
Email: colin.mcgrath@mla.niassembly.gov.uk

East Londonderry:
Mr. Alan Robinson MLA, DUP
Email: alan.robinson@mla.niassembly.gov.uk

If there isn’t a MLA from your area represented on the Health Committee, you are invited to share your experience of running a community pharmacy with the Committee Chairperson and Deputy Chairperson.

Please do get in touch with CPNI, if you need further information.

Thanks,

Jude

SENT ON BEHALF OF
JUDE AUSTIN 
Communications Manager